The federal government is giving New Orleans' Sewerage & Water Board more than $10 million to lift eight pumping stations above the base flood elevation, the height at which the stations should be protected from flooding caused by a 100-year rainfall or storm surge event.

The agency is using the advisory base flood elevations, meaning the new heights are based on the potential for flooding with an incomplete levee system.

"These elevation projects can help prevent the accumulation of wastewater that occurs at pumping stations when equipment fails under the pressure of hurricanes and heavy rainfalls," said Paul Rainwater, director of the Louisiana Recovery Authority.

The money is for eight of New Orleans' 82 pumping stations. All eight have important equipment housed below ground. The work of lifting the structures and equipment to higher levels will begin with planning and design and a historic preservation review, the Federal Emergency Management Agency said in a press release.

The money comes from a pot of about $1.4 billion FEMA set aside for Louisiana after Hurricane Katrina to use on storm-proofing, or hazard mitigation. Most of the money, about $750 million, is for homeowners who got money from the Road Home program to elevate their rebuilt houses. The balance of the Hazard Mitigation Grant Program money had been earmarked for individual parishes to make houses and other equipment safer in future storms.